WFP Launches “6 Degrees Of Freerice”

6 February 2012

Players of Freerice can log-in using their Facebook or Twitter profiles, share the amount of rice they've raised and create groups to play with friends or classmates. Play Freerice!

World Freerice Week kicked off on Monday, with a special call going out to the million registered players of the online trivia game that helps fight hunger. During the week, FreeRice players are encouraged to recruit at least six of their friends to join the community, in line with the popular theory that we are all connected to everyone else in the world - including the hungry - through no more than six people.

ROME – The theory of “Six Degrees of Separation” says that every person in the world is connected to every other person in the world through, at most, six other people.

Through its online hunger-fighting game Freerice.com, the WFP is encouraging Freerice players to use these connections to bring food to the world’s most vulnerable people.

“Each of us is only six degrees away, or less, from someone who does not know where she will find her next meal,” said Nancy Roman, WFP Director of Communications, Public Policy and Private Partnerships.

6 Degrees Of Freerice

“Imagine what we could achieve if we each invite six of our friends to help us donate rice to hungry kids. Freerice allows everyone to make a real-world impact with just the click of a mouse.”

World Freerice Week

This year, the theme for World Freerice Week (6-11 February) is “6 Degrees of Freerice”. WFP is calling on Freerice fans to recruit six friends to join in the online fight against hunger.

During World Freerice Week, players can create groups on Freerice.com that include “Freerice6” in the group title. Group founders can ask their friends to join and to each invite an additional six friends.

Prizes will be given to the group founders who have the most people in their group or whose group has donated the most rice, as well as to the individual who has donated the most rice during the week.

By playing the trivia games at Freerice.com during World Freerice Week, players can win prizes and have fun while feeding the hungry.

Not your average online game

Freerice is not your average online trivia game. With each correct answer, ten grains of rice are donated to WFP to feed hungry people around the world, paid for by sponsored banners on the site.

Players can choose from 45,000 questions in a range of subjects, including flags of the world, chemistry and literature, and in six languages.

Freerice currently has over one million registered players, who together have donated nearly 100 billion grains of rice to feed almost five million people since the game’s launch in 2007.

“We can solve the problem of hunger if we join together to each do our part,” said Roman. “Almost one billion people go to bed hungry every night. With 6 Degrees of Freerice, we’re on our way to harnessing the power of online networks to make a difference in the fight against hunger.”

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Hunger can be eliminated in our lifetimes

This requires comprehensive efforts to ensure that every man, woman and child enjoy their Right to Adequate Food; women are empowered; priority is given to family farming; and food systems everywhere are sustainable and resilient.